Daly at ease as Dublin consign ‘panicky hurling’ to the past

Composure. Not an attribute often associated with Dublin hurling, certainly not in recent years.

Let’s return to their 2010 qualifier defeat to Antrim, the seven-point lead coughed up to 14-man Clare in 2012 and, indeed, the second half-showing against Cork last summer — prime examples, to borrow Anthony Daly’s phrase, of “panicky hurling”.

Leinster success last July, however, represented a corner turned. League glory was enjoyed a year earlier, but the knock-on effect of league and championship glory are worlds apart.

And so as the scale of their achievement soaked in during the winter break, Daly is in no doubt his team returned a more “positive and mature” force this spring. Gone was the “panicky hurling” of old.

Entering the final 10 minutes of their semi-final clash, Wexford halved a six-point deficit to move within a goal of Dublin. Time for composed heads. Dublin’s Michael Carton fired two huge scores with Paul Ryan adding a third to end Wexford’s hopes.

“As Leinster champions, there would be more of a maturity and positivity and less doubt, I would feel, about them,” mused Daly. “I thought they came out in the second half in Wexford and there was no panicky hurling. Mick Carton got two great points in a minute and Joey also got a huge one. They were killers to Wexford.

“Sometimes when you are trying to get to the top or get a major title... the league was significant to us, but to win Leinster was a far bigger deal. I thought in other games in other years there was panicky hurling, and none more evident than against Antrim, when we were up six points.

“When I look back, I plucked up the courage to look back at that once and some of the stuff, like fellas jumping up on each other’s backs for high balls, but they did stuff right in Wexford. There was a calmness about me in the second half. I thought, ‘we will work this out and use the ball and work the scores’. I felt we were never going to lose the match.

“I wouldn’t be that calm if I could see something different off them and maybe being Leinster champions...”

Dublin enter Sunday’s contest with the visit to Wexford Park their sole championship outing, a far cry from last summer where four games were banked en route to the final.

Daly’s accepts the shoe is now firmly on the other foot, with Cody’s men coming in off the back of two testing encounters against Galway.

“The 11-week break prior to the Wexford fixture was a bit of a worry, but we had a good tough encounter down there where there were serious questions asked.

“Nearly everyone in the GAA will tell you the three-week break is the ideal break, that you recover a little and then build it up again hard the following week and go hard for 10 days. For Kilkenny, I know from last year, it is rest in between games. Last year we would meet up the following morning, have a swim, breakfast and a bit of a chat. A few pucks then on the Wednesday, a chat Friday and away again for the weekend. It worked.”

Which is a more preferable run-in?

“I don’t know. Everyone told me this week last year that we were meeting a fresh Galway team and how were we going to stay going for five weeks in a row, yet we hit the ground running. Will Kilkenny be tired? I don’t know. I think every game takes on a life of its own.”

Daly gambled last time out starting Conal Keaney and Liam Rushe, when neither were 100% fit. Can he afford a second such gamble when the opposition’s stripes are of black and amber?

“If it pays off, then everything is right. Winning, sure you could go down there naked on the line and if you win, they’ll all say ‘that was some stunt by Daly’. It is very easy to be wise after the event.”